


~Prelude~

by MidoriKurenaiYume



Series: Re [2]
Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Dialogue, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 04:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17780177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidoriKurenaiYume/pseuds/MidoriKurenaiYume
Summary: Arturia and Gilgamesh find a ghost in the apartment they are forced to share, so they have to deal with it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slightly 'old' fic of mine, since I wrote it a few years ago and I only edited it a bit after finding it in my folders. Thank you to Christy for giving some suggestions about the outline back then ;)
> 
> WARNING: there are strong references to suicide, but it's also addressed somewhat superficially, so I'll give both a warning and an apology for how it's handled.
> 
> Title: not exactly from a Kalafina song, even though many of their concerts started with Preludes ;))

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“This can’t be happening,” Arturia muttered under her breath. “This absolutely _can’t_ be happening.”

A widely smirking Gilgamesh stared at her, amused and unapologetic.

“While I can agree with you that it’s quite the remarkable coincidence, I will also assure you that it _is_ in fact happening.”

She couldn’t quite stop herself from glaring at him, therefore she ultimately decided not to even truly attempt to hold herself back.

“While it’s indeed a possibility, I very much doubt you had nothing to do with this _coincidence_ , Gilgamesh,” she growled darkly.

He shrugged as elegantly as he always managed to do, clearly unfazed by her irritation, but before he could anger her more with his flippant comments, Enkidu intervened, trying to calm things down.

“You could share,” he chirped, giving them both a calculating look.

Gilgamesh stared at him with raised eyebrows, while Arturia brought her eyes on the green-haired realtor, her mood rapidly switching from aggravated to dumbfounded and finally settling on furious.

While Enkidu was unperturbed by his best friend’s expression, he did falter at seeing Arturia glowering at him.

“Only temporarily,” he hastened to add. “Just for a short while, a week or two, to give us the time to contact the owner who is currently on vacation. He will make the final decision.”

Gilgamesh shrugged again and gave Arturia a long, pointed look.

“I have no objections to such a plan.”

She narrowed her eyes, glaring at the two men standing in front of her as she tried to decide.

Arturia and Gilgamesh had seen the apartment separately and had liked it, deciding to rent it; Enkidu’s agency had however imprudently booked it for both of them without making all the necessary checks. They had of course been frantic in offering apologies once they had realized their mistake, but they were currently unable to fix it, at least until the apartment’s owner came back and decided which tenant to keep.

After fuming silently for a long while, she spoke through gritted teeth, “I have _many_ objections when it comes to sharing an apartment with you, even if for just a few days, but it’s true that there isn’t a choice at this point – therefore I would like to keep my thoughts positive.”

She took a slow, deep breath, straightening herself. “We are adults. We should be capable of handling this situation.”

Enkidu handed each of them a key without commenting, but his expression made it clear that he disagreed.

Ignoring him, Arturia turned to give Gilgamesh a long look filled with doubt before offering him her hand to shake.

There was still a large smirk on his face as he grabbed it, but his tone was unexpectedly firm as he replied, “We certainly can.”

There was something inexplicable in the way he was staring at her, something unsurprisingly direct but surprisingly steadfast at the same time. He _was_ taking the matter seriously.

Their weird exchanged gaze was broken when Enkidu visibly rolled his eyes next to them.

“That’s deep, Gil,” he commented sarcastically. “Feel free to make googly eyes at each other as much as you want, but please not in front of me.”

He rapidly waved his hands in goodbye and sprinted away when he found himself at the receiving end of their simultaneous glares. “The door is right behind you, you can see your way inside on your own!”

...

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	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for mentions of suicide.

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The seriousness Gilgamesh had displayed when agreeing to their odd living arrangement proved of course to be only temporary.

As soon they dismissed the movers and began to settle in, it immediately turned into them having one argument after the other. It was as if he couldn’t help himself: he pronounced every sentence as if it was a command, as if she was supposed to obey. This of course was a source of deep irritation for her, and she definitely wasn’t going to just bend to his will or let him order her around in the first place. He had no right to treat her with such insufferable condescension.

She had known him for quite a while, and he had been making it clear that he was interested in her for as long as she could remember. She valiantly shot him down every time, their verbal exchanges becoming nothing less than spars, but he was persistent and not so easily deterred. And since he had never crossed any lines – obstinate, yes, but not suffocating or intimidating – she didn’t have any grounds to push him away for good. Furthermore, even though she was never going to admit it out loud, she found herself slightly drawn to the challenge he posed to her.

That didn’t mean, however, that she was thrilled about sharing her living quarters with him.

They had met a long time before, when she had been temporarily filling in for her friend and boss Irisviel – who had been on maternity leave – at the bank, and had been tasked with dealing with the clients. Gilgamesh had expected to see ‘the doll’, as she had disrespectfully been calling Irisviel, and had been caught off guard when he had met someone else instead.

He had been extremely distrustful and unconvinced about her skills, requesting a couple additional meetings to talk about his investments in more detail. Their conversations had solely been focused on work for the most part, but the more he had talked with her, the more he had seemed to want to stay for longer periods of time. Arturia had not expected to become the object of his intense scrutiny – no longer related to her ability at work – and blatant attention and interest in her. It had made her slightly uncomfortable, but it had never become vulgar or truly inappropriate, therefore she had done her best to keep things professional during their subsequent meetings.

Then her sister had come back into her life, and everything had changed. They had never had a close bond and ever since they had become adults they had led completely separate lives, but it had still been a shock when Arturia had learned that–

No. She wasn’t going to think about it any longer.

It was the main reason why she had decided to move out from the small house where she had grown up. Irisviel had come back to work – Arturia had been among the first to meet her cute daughter and occasionally take care of her – and, aware that she never took days off, had forced her to accept a few weeks of ‘holiday’. She had sternly told her that she had to take care of herself before coming back to work, and since she had had no other choice, Arturia had used her ‘vacation’ to start looking at several different apartments.

This one, situated in a cottage a bit away from the noisy city centre but still allowing her to go to work easily, was isolated enough for her tastes – no unwelcome neighbours – while not being in the middle of nowhere. It had therefore seemed perfect, and when she had voiced her desire to take it immediately, everything had appeared to go smoothly–… until there had been a mistake and _Gilgamesh_ of all people had rented the same place.

From what Enkidu had told her when he had apologetically informed her of the mix-up, Gilgamesh had needed to be closer to his workplace too and since his mansion was in need of renovations, was considering buying a new house, but for the time being, he had decided that an apartment would do.

He had of course demanded to see who else had dared rent his same place, and even though his annoyance at the situation hadn’t faded upon seeing her, he had unquestionably calmed down slightly and started arguing with her in a mostly composed manner. Enkidu’s solution was far from ideal, but it was indeed acceptable for a few days; Arturia firmly intended to place all the blame on him if she ended up ‘accidentally’ causing Gilgamesh bodily harm if – or rather, _once_ – he got too much on her nerves.

There was currently some much-needed silence between them as they unpacked their things in the living room. There were thankfully two identical and very spacious cabinets, meaning that they didn’t have to fight about how to divide them, even though they still managed to bicker about who got to use which.

She was putting some objects away when Gilgamesh spoke again from somewhere behind her.

“I heard about your sister.”

Arturia sucked in a breath and her hand froze. She was glad that she was facing away from him so that she didn’t have to fight in order to compose her expression.

It had been almost two months; she had to be able to at least _think_ about it without losing her composure.

After a long silence, she said, her tone colourless, “If you know about it, then you also know why I need a new apartment.”

It was a not-so-veiled attempt at changing the subject and impressing upon him that she wasn’t being stubborn about renting this apartment just for the sake of it. She didn’t even want to know how Gilgamesh had heard about her sister passing away in the first place.

He didn’t seem to want to get the hint though.

“You weren’t close with her,” he observed, making it sound like a statement. “But perhaps taking a vacation would have been better than just moving.”

Arturia’s fists clenched. He had been around her for months, that was true, but he didn’t know her. It wasn’t his place to be so intrusive.

“Please keep your opinions to yourself on this matter – in fact, on most matters,” she replied icily, still not turning to face him, struggling to remain polite. “My personal life is none of your business.”

“That depends,” he retorted almost instantly, making her finally turn around to look at him, too surprised by his blasé attitude to be angry. “I am to live with you for several days, and while I’m never against engaging in interesting debates with you, I won’t be your emotional outlet.”

She was stunned and, in all honesty, offended as well. He had made her angry before, but now implying that she couldn’t control herself because of a personal tragedy reached a whole new level of insensitivity.

“How dare you,” she snapped. “You think I talk back to you because of what happened to my sister? Did it not occur to you that perhaps I don’t accept to be ordered around by you because I am not your servant, and that I argue with you merely because you are unbearably arrogant?”

She realized her chest was heaving, and she felt that her face was warm, but she refused to pay it any attention, words tumbling out faster and faster. “The fact that you constantly behave like a jerk has nothing to do with my personal matters. I’ve thought of you as a deeply irritating human being long before my sister killed herself.”

Her hands would have flown to her mouth to cover it if she had not managed to control her instinctual reaction. She hadn’t meant to give away that specific detail.

Gilgamesh was staring at her very intently. She had seen his slight surprise when she had bluntly told him what she thought of him, probably because he had not expected such animosity on her part, but his face had become unreadable once she had mentioned what had happened to her sister.

To her astonishment, Arturia suddenly realized she was feeling… somewhat… better. Lighter. After giving herself the opportunity to explode, even if for just a moment, she felt like she had unburdened herself. An inner voice that sounded identical to Irisviel’s gentle one asked her when was the last time she had allowed herself to do this, and her unhelpful mind honestly replied that she couldn’t remember.

Gilgamesh seemed to know this too, if the careful way in which he was now eyeing her was any indication.

“An interesting way to clarify our current situation, that’s doubtless,” he commented dryly, before a strange expression settled on his features. “Now I know for certain what needs to be done. Your poor opinion of me needs to change, and there’s no better opportunity than this one, when we share close quarters.”

He was openly grinning at her now, and even though she could see still some vague caution in his eyes, she felt oddly lifted. Just like that, he had restored the mood and actually _helped_ her let go of some of her inner anger while managing not to humiliate her at the same time.

That was… actually quite a feat, especially for someone like him.

She weighed him for a second, before turning around to close her finished cabinet.

“Let’s move on to argue over every detail of the next room,” she curtly offered, and couldn’t help glancing at him briefly in amazement when he actually laughed before following her.

The following room happened to be the bedroom, and this was definitely going to be a challenge. Neither of them agreed to sleep in the living room – where there were only armchairs and no couches anyway – and the room was big, with two beds, which meant that they were each going to have their own.

After much quarrelling, Arturia pushed the two small beds as far from each other as possible, ignoring Gilgamesh’s complaints about now having ‘less space’. She privately agreed that having one huge bed would have been better than two such small ones, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him, and she was definitely _not_ going to sleep next to him.

Furthermore, she didn’t have the energy to keep being belligerent about most matters, which was why separating the beds was the only thing on which she put her foot down. Their earlier fight had drained her, making her feel less confrontational towards him and willing to look past her dislike towards him, at least as long as they had to live under the same roof.

A period of time whose length, at least for the time being, seemed to be still unspecified.

...

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	3. Chapter 3

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The evening predictably degenerated into another quarrel.

Arturia wanted to work on cooking something, Gilgamesh wanted to have his favourite food delivered, and they ultimately agreed to eat separately. Otherwise, they might just have ended up spending more time making snarky comments instead of eating anything at all.

They went to sleep in silence, their beds already far apart, knowing that another word would have had as result yet another argument.

During the night, however, Arturia suddenly woke up.

Still drowsy and confused, she looked around the dark room, wondering what had disturbed her sleep. By trying to get herself to a sitting position, she became conscious of something caressing her arm quietly.

Abruptly, she tried to pull back, but the touch on her arm insisted.

“Gilgamesh, let go of me!” she grumbled loudly, her voice hoarse and deeply irritated. “Stop touching me and keep your hands to yourself!”

The caresses didn’t stop, and Gilgamesh’s slightly muffled voice replied, “What is the matter now? Why did you wake me up?”

Arturia abruptly realized that his voice was coming from the other side of the room, where his bed was.

But… if he was so far away from her… who was touching her arm…?

Her free hand reached blindly for her bedside table, taking the first thing she could find – her alarm clock – and aimed it at whatever was holding her…

…but her hand passed through air, even though she could still feel the touch on her arm.

She froze in shock. She had thought it was a burglar, but whatever this _being_ was, she was unable to touch it, even though _it_ could apparently touch _her_. She attempted to wrench her arm free, succeeding this time, and she suddenly managed to see a pale, hollow, translucent face that seemed to be giving her a mad grin.

Even though she despised the little control she had over herself, she screamed.

On the other side of the room, Gilgamesh sat up on the bed and turned on the lights. His expression was disoriented and sleepy, but his eyes were immediately looking for Arturia’s face, something similar to worry creeping its way on his own.

Blinking repeatedly in disbelief, Arturia slowly turned her head to gape at him.

“Gilgamesh,” she said slowly, deciding to tell him the truth no matter how unbelievable it sounded. “This will sound ridiculous, but I think I just saw a ghost.”

He stared at her as she briefly recounted what had just happened, clearly seeming unconvinced even as his expression became more and more alert. Arturia pointed out that the bedroom door was still closed, as were the windows, yet there had definitely been someone in the room a few moments before.

However, he shook his head.

“You were still dreaming,” he said with confidence. “You were imagining me touching your arm because you secretly wish for it to happen.”

Arturia gave him a chilling glare, choosing to ignore his blatant reference to himself.

“Even if I had been dreaming and not been awake,” she growled, “how do you explain _this_ then?”

She showed him her arm, and his eyebrows rose at seeing a series of five small red marks, which definitely looked like imprints of a hand, of fingers that had grabbed her rather tightly.

She seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then got up from bed with a sigh. It was still early, but she was up now and wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. She gave him a look filled with suspicion as her mind tried to find a logical explanation.

“Are you trying to somehow manipulate me?” she unexpectedly accused him. “Is this some trick on your part to scare me and make me leave the apartment?”

His eyes flashed at this and he abruptly got up as well.

“Are you so set against me that you need to go out of your way in order to find reasons to be annoyed?”

“You are a self-centred jerk,” she hissed. “Something woke me up in the middle of the night by grabbing my arm, leaving injuries. There’s only two of us in this apartment; you _have_ to have something to do with this.”

She stormed out of the room, and a few minutes later, he heard the water run in the shower.

Gilgamesh sat down on his bed, a hand passing through his dishevelled hair, thinking. What had just happened was quite unusual to say the least.

He knew that Arturia wasn’t a person who relied on imagination and wasn’t the type to get spooked over nothing, which meant that she hadn’t been dreaming. He had seen the marks on her arm himself and he knew there had been no one else in the room with them. Furthermore, he had noticed by her stiffer behaviour – and her hostile accusations – that what had happened had affected her, even though it was likely that she wasn’t going to admit it.

He decided that the best thing to do was keep her mind off things. She obviously wasn’t scared – that just wasn’t Arturia – but she was worried by an event she couldn’t explain, and he wasn’t going to tolerate an inexplicable small incident to influence her like that.

The rest of the day, as they took care of their remaining boxes, he made sure to go back to their usual bickering and quarrelling. More than once, however, he saw her abruptly turn around, as if she had felt a presence or heard something, and he believed this was a consequence of what happened during the night. He refrained from teasing her about it, deciding not to dismiss her worry and instead give her some form of reassurance.

In the evening, he checked all the windows together with her and then made a show of locking the door carefully in front of her. He didn’t think there was anything to worry about burglars, but as _something_ had definitely happened the previous night, being extra careful wouldn’t hurt.

Seeing Arturia’s more distended expression and nearly normal countenance again, Gilgamesh couldn’t resist and leaned closer to her, almost brushing his lips against hers.

Her glare was back and she made sure he knew how much of a disrespectful person he was by soundly telling him off. There wasn’t true anger on her part though, making him guess that she had seen that he hadn’t truly tried to kiss her and had just meant to rile her up.

She seemed to also have realized that he cared enough about her discomfort to do something about it, even if still in his typically obnoxious way.

In spite of the positive omens, that night didn’t go much better than the one before.

Arturia woke up in a cold sweat, ripped out of sleep by unknown fingers painfully digging into her shoulder.

This time she was more prepared to face the unknown being, and therefore forced it off her before shouting, “Show yourself!”

Again she managed to glimpse a transparent figure near her, but only for a second, because as soon as she turned on the lights, it was gone.

Gilgamesh was standing up and immediately coming towards her, eyes narrowing towards her shoulders. Her nightclothes had a slight tear and there were again small red marks on her skin. The door was still closed and there was no one else around.

“There is something in this house, Gilgamesh,” Arturia said slowly, voice still slightly croaked from sleep. “I’m not imagining it. Whoever or whatever it is, I’d say it’s cowardly since it’s not showing itself, and it’s _definitely_ not friendly.”

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	4. Chapter 4

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Arturia sighed, wearily looking around again.

“Not only is this something not friendly, it’s apparently something not rational either, considering the circumstances.”

Gilgamesh sat down next to her, on her bed, and since Arturia was focused on massaging her red marks to soothe them, she did not react to it.

“Arturia, first of all, calm down.”

She gave him a dirty look, while still ignoring his invasion of her personal space. She wasn’t hysterical or scared, but her apprehension was undeniable, and she wasn’t going to lie about it.

Gilgamesh seemed to notice because he let out a huff.

“Perhaps, Arturia, you are just edgy in this house because you believe _me_ to be a threat.”

To both their surprise, Arturia frowned and then shook her head firmly.

“I don’t perceive you as a threat,” she bluntly told him. “All I dislike about you is your attitude and your arrogance. I know, however, that you can be reasonable and are indeed an intelligent person, which is why I am telling you about all this in the first place. I am almost hoping you could ridicule it into nonsense, but you are not blind nor foolish, which is why I am now asking you to take me seriously.”

Her expression was resolute. “There is _something_ here, something that the rational part of me claims can’t be a ghost, but at the same time, whatever it is, it brings me uneasiness.” A humourless smile appeared on her lips. “I would like to blame all this on nerves, but I know it’s not the case. I can imagine sounds and apparitions, but I’ve never caused myself self-harm like this.”

And her eyes pointedly lingered on the slowly fading red marks on her arm and the fresh ones on her shoulder.

Gilgamesh was silent for so long that Arturia almost began to think that their conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere. As she was about to speak again, however, he stood up abruptly, going to his own bed to recover his watch and check the time.

“It’s roughly the same time as last night,” he nodded, as if confirming something to himself.

He then gave her an impassive look. “There isn’t really much to do until this being appears again.”

After a second of astonishment, Arturia nodded, pleased. It was the same conclusion she had reached and, while she didn’t need someone else’s approval or encouragement, given that she was more affected than she was willing to admit, it was reassuring to know that he was leaning towards the same course of action.

The rest of the day was a bit different this time. While Arturia took care of some phone calls she needed to make, Gilgamesh took a nap, and later went with her to do some grocery shopping. He didn’t say much, but she wasn’t blind and noticed how he seemed to keep somewhat closer to her than before. After being puzzled by it for a good half an hour, she ultimately decided not to comment on it.

She was therefore completely taken aback when, as they got back to the apartment, he peremptorily ordered her to sleep for a while. She didn’t have the time to even express her irritation at his command, because he then reminded her that she had been woken up during the night twice in a row, therefore some rest would do her good.

To both their surprise, Arturia was too dumbfounded to protest anymore.

As she attempted to actually fall asleep in her bed, she had to admit to herself that sleep was something that would be positive for her. She had needed to leave her childhood home because of memories that were too heavy to bear, and she had found herself in an apartment with a strange presence that was likely to mean her harm.

She could honestly not say that she was scared, but she certainly wasn’t comfortable either. Nevertheless, she certainly wasn’t going to run either – not for a second time. Whatever this presence wanted with her, it was time to confront it.

After she got some rest, of course.

Dinner seemed to become almost normal again. She bickered with Gilgamesh about it, but in the end she won the argument and started cooking one of the few meals she knew how to do well.

It would have been a quiet and almost relaxed moment, if Arturia hadn’t suddenly felt a hand touching her hip gently and a sudden weight by her shoulder. Mildly alarmed, she attempted to turn her whole body around, but only managed to turn her head and found Gilgamesh leaning into her neck, breathing in deeply as he hovered over her skin.

She barely managed to suppress a shiver at the sensation before asking, her voice carefully neutral, “What are you doing?”

As if it was the most ordinary thing to say, he muttered, “I wanted to feel your scent.”

Arturia stiffened slightly at that, and managed to meet his eyes this time, glaring at him.

“And for that you need to sniff my neck? Do you even realize how uncannily creepy that makes you?”

With a light push, she removed him from around her body. He didn’t seem overly concerned.

“You were sniffing me too today,” he pointed out, and she gaped at him.

“That… that has nothing to do with this!” she protested indignantly. “That was an _accident!_ ”

It was true: earlier, at the crowded shopping mall, she had been pressed against him for a few seconds to let some other people pass. Because of that, she had inadvertently been breathing next to his neck.

But it had been just for a moment, and definitely _not_ on purpose.

Completely unfazed, he countered, with a wide grin, “But it _did_ happen.”

Arturia sent him her most disgruntled look.

“If you want to eat something edible, let me cook in peace,” she warned him, and this comment was able to shut him up.

Feeling his eyes on her as she focused on cooking wasn’t really helpful, but it was better than having to deal with his sarcastic remarks, so Arturia endeavoured to ignore him. Given that in the end the meal actually tasted _good_ , she was pleased to find out that she had been successful.

Of course, a peaceful moment couldn’t last forever, and as soon as they were ready to go to bed, they found themselves in an odd position once again, caused by Gilgamesh pushing their beds together.

She was about to ask him what he thought he was doing, but she didn’t have the time for it, because she found herself lying on the bed, on her side, enveloped in his arms.

She blinked a couple of times, before growling, danger in her tone, “Gilgamesh–”

“I have been feeling something akin to a strange presence the whole day,” he informed her, voice low, and this made her still. “It doesn’t matter what it actually is. I won’t let anything happen.”

Arturia did not move nor did she say anything for a while. He had just said something that was quite cheesy and incredibly cliché, more fitting for a movie than real life, but that didn’t mean that it couldn’t feel strangely comforting.

She knew that Gilgamesh was usually rather aloof and haughty, but he didn’t take his promises lightly, and he had just told her that she wasn’t the only one looking out for them both.

Whatever it was, she would face it, but it wasn’t necessarily bad to know that she wasn’t alone in it.

However, dealing with this presence didn’t warrant such close sleeping quarters.

“I can’t sleep if you hold me close,” she grumbled, her voice betraying all her aggravation.

She felt, even without seeing it, that he was smiling, even though she knew that it was most likely a smirk.

“Then I dare you to,” he said simply, and Arturia’s eyes widened in shock.

What a dirty trick…! He knew that she didn’t back away from challenges, so he had basically forced her to accept her situation by making it look like a provocation…!

The fact that his arms tightened slightly around her told her that he knew perfectly that he had won.

She considered briefly. Dare aside, she would never have agreed to remain in such a position if she had truly found it distasteful and uncomfortable but, to her own surprise and confusion, it didn’t feel threatening nor unpleasant.

The reason for it seemed to be a bit more complicated to unravel, but Arturia’s mind keenly set to the task–… at least until she fell asleep.

The unexpectedly restful sleep remained undisturbed for many hours, and even looked like it would last throughout the whole night – at least until Arturia abruptly woke up at feeling something stroking her arm again.

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	5. Chapter 5

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Arturia could feel Gilgamesh’s warm body behind hers, and both his arms around her waist, which meant that something else was touching her arm, and she couldn’t help freezing for a moment.

Getting a grip on herself, she used her free arm to reach for Gilgamesh’s hand and squeeze it firmly but silently, waking him up. To his credit, he didn’t startle nor did he talk, and once she was certain that he was alert, she guided his hand towards her other arm, making him feel the contact with the unknown presence, which kept stroking her skin, unperturbed.

Gilgamesh could obviously feel the foreign being, but he only remained still for a moment before pushing forward and grabbing it firmly.

“Let us know at once what you are,” he growled darkly. “And what you want with her.”

Whatever this being was, it seemed to be able to convey emotions, because they could distinctly feel its glee.

“Just her life,” an arcane, incorporeal voice replied.

Gilgamesh’s free hand made to reach for the light switch, but Arturia stopped him, instinctively knowing that if they turned on all the lights the unknown being would disappear. She fumbled instead for the small flashlight she had decided to put on her bedside table the evening before, and pointed it at the _thing_.

The white, translucent figure of a man became visible. His traits were undistinguishable, as were his build and appearance, but he had a distinctly human form. A ghost, Arturia considered clinically, suddenly and inexplicably not feeling so worried anymore.

“What do you mean, you want my life?” she therefore asked. Since they had now established contact with this creature, it was time to find out more about it, no matter how surreal the entire experience was proving to be.

The ghost seemed slightly surprised by the utter calmness in her voice, because it took a few seconds before it gave her a reply.

“Company,” it finally said, very slowly. “It gets lonely in this limbo. And, most importantly… I want revenge on you, for killing my children.”

That was a decidedly unexpected statement. Arturia looked at the figure uncomprehendingly, while still feeling Gilgamesh’s body wrapped around hers, as if it was some sort of shield.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t kill anyone.”

Now anger started to radiate from the ghost, whose contours also became a bit darker.

“You did,” it snarled. “You _know_ you did. You ran them over and didn’t even spare them a thought!”

Gilgamesh could feel Arturia stiffen in his hold. He would have preferred the lights to be on so that he could see her expression, but he realized there was no need for it when Arturia spoke again, her voice now empty and emotionless.

“That wasn’t me,” she said, very carefully. “That was Jeanne, my twin sister. And she’s dead now.”

The ghost froze, and the place where its eyes were supposed to be appeared to widen.

“She was so full of remorse about what she had involuntarily done that she took her own life,” Arturia continued, still with the same blank tone. “She sought death as her atonement, and she was successful.”

The ghost’s emotions, which somehow were able to wash over them, proved that it was perplexed and clearly unable to grasp this unforeseen revelation.

Gilgamesh leaned forward again, still holding the ghost’s arm firmly. He was not letting it get away with what he considered to be excuses.

“If what you wanted was Arturia’s life, why did you appear to simply touch her arm?”

His voice was chilling, and even the ghost knew better than to try to ignore him.

“I only see shadows of the living,” it answered, rather quickly. “I needed to make sure I identified the correct target, so I left marks on her skin. And her flesh smells good.”

Gilgamesh’s hand released the ghost’s arm to go straight for the place where its neck, squeezing it sharply.

Ice in his every word, he hissed, “The one who caused you offence is gone, so you can now either move on, or I face my wrath. And rest assured, I will make sure to hunt you down.”

Having leaned forward, he was now visible in the darkness thanks to the flashlight, and his crimson eyes were glinting menacingly. The ghost visibly recoiled.

“Upon reflection, I don’t care whether or not you are my target, your destiny is sealed, you already have a demon by your side,” it squeaked in Arturia’s direction. “Only the devil possesses such eyes!”

Arturia got to a sitting position, still holding the flashlight, genuinely puzzled by such a bizarre comment. She gave Gilgamesh a long look, even as the ghost began to fade into nothing.

A few seconds later, there was nothing there anymore, and Gilgamesh’s hand was now fisted around air. Arturia turned on the lights, looking around just to make sure that there was truly no other presence in the room.

Calmly, as if she was completely unaffected, she then remarked, her tone matter-of-factly, “You are occasionally very good at being unbearable, Gilgamesh, but I believe that calling you a demon is a bit excessive.”

She stood up from the bed, immediately joined by Gilgamesh, and studied the new, smaller red marks on her arm, before looking at him again.

“This odd encounter definitely proves that I wasn’t imagining things–”

Her attempts at lightening the mood seemed to have gone to waste, because Gilgamesh was still shaking slightly in barely suppressed rage. But to her shock, instead of going on a rant, even though his face was a thunderstorm, he just came closer to her and pulled her into his arms again.

After a moment of surprise, she relaxed in his hold. When she was able to face him again, she seemed to consider him.

“I think it’s best if we both leave this place,” she told him, sounding pensive. “I’m afraid Enkidu and the owner will have to find another tenant.”

She was still slightly taken aback when he actually agreed with her.

“That’s the best option – but only tomorrow. Now we sleep, since that ghost was not only on a foolish quest, it was also insolent enough to interrupt a rather restful night.”

Arturia almost wanted to laugh. Now that the unusual situation was over and dealt with, she was so relieved that she fell asleep as soon as her head sank into the pillows.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes this old fic of mine :) I hope you enjoyed, and thank you so much for reading!!!  
> (I'm [here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/) on tumblr with my friend Christy)

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The next morning, they both received a call from Enkidu at the same time.

At the agency they had found out that the owner of their apartment had died just a few weeks before after his children had been killed in a car accident, which meant that they could no longer give it up for rent. Neither Arturia nor Gilgamesh were truly surprised by this new development, as it made sense, considering what they had learned from the ghost the previous night.

Arturia was lost in thought for a while as they started to pack all their things again, wondering if she had chosen this apartment on her own or if the owner’s ghost had actually influenced her into taking it. Given the unusual mix-up concerning its booking, it would have made sense; and that meant that Gilgamesh had been unknowingly and unwillingly dragged into the situation, especially since from the start, the ghost had shown to be taken with her and not care about him. Yet in spite of this, he had stayed and faced the entire situation with her.

Later in the afternoon, as they were each about to leave – she was going to stay at a hotel while doing some apartment hunting in the meantime – she felt somewhat awkward in saying goodbye.

She had just prepared herself to take her leave in a polite but informal way, when his hand suddenly grasped her under her chin carefully, tilting her head to that he was meeting her eyes.

“Are you planning on taking your leave when we still have to find a new apartment?”

She could not hide the slight confusion from her eyes, and he went on, emphasizing, “We should look for a new apartment – _together_.”

Her features turned into a frown, surprised at herself when she didn’t immediately dismiss the idea. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely unwelcome to her.

Slowly, she replied, “I will think about it.”

Without warning, he leaned forward and kissed her. Only a brief touch, only a moment, and then he pulled back.

After a second of silence, Arturia said, “I will think about it _very seriously_.”

He leaned forward again for a new kiss, this time longer and more passionate.

She let out a huff when he pulled back, and cleared her throat.

“Fine. We will try this.”

She raised however her hand, making sure he couldn’t come to kiss her once again. “It’s an _attempt_ , Gilgamesh. It’s not a promise.”

The warning in her voice was clear, and the seriousness was unmistakable.

Gilgamesh nodded at her, showing that he had received her message, and there was firmness in his eyes as well.

“I will make sure that, once we both know it, it _becomes_ one.”

This time, Arturia was the one to lean in to kiss him, and it lasted _much_ longer.

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End file.
